Museums
Many museums have important collections of mancala boards. A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment", as defined by the International Council of Museums. Africa D. R. of the Congo Musée National de Kinshasa Avenue du 24 Novembre, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo * Mbelele board from 1975 Mali Musée National du Mali Rue du Général Leclerc, BP 159, Bamako, Mali * one of the oldest Awalé boards, probably dating from the 14th century Namibia Owela Museum (National Museum of Namibia) 4 Lüderitz Street / Robert Mugabe Avenue, Windhoek, Namibia * permanent Owela exhibition, where visitors can play against experienced players Tanzania Sukuma Museum Bujora Parish, P.O. Box 76, Mwanza, Tanzania * two Isolo boards of poured and painted concrete Asia Indonesia Museum Anak "Kolong Tangga" Teras lantai II, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Jl. Sriwedani, Yogyakarta. Central Java, Indonesia * Dakon boards Kazakhstan Republican Literary-Memorial House-Museum of Abay 29, International Street, Semipalatinsk City, Republic of Kazakhstan * Toguz Kumalak board of famous poet Abay Kunanbaev (1845-1904) Singapore Singapore Sports Museum Jurong West Sports & Recreation Centre, 20, Jurong West Street 93, Singapore 648965 * Congkak boards Sri Lanka Sri Lanka National Museum P.O Box 854, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka * Olinda boards from the Kandy period, one of them was used by King Ehelapola who died in 1815 Europe Belgium Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale / Koninklijk Museum voor Midden - Afrika Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium * many Mancala boards, but the collection can be viewed by appointment only and just by researchers, exhibition curators and postgraduate students France Musée du Jouet 5, rue du Murgin, 39260 Moirans-en-Montagne, France * boards from Rwanda and the Ivory Coast musée du Quai Branly 55, Quai Branly, 75007 Paris, France * good searchable catalogue, which includes items not on display in the museum itself (mancala boards are classified under a number of different categories, such as jeux de cupules, plateaux de jeu, mancala, mankala, etc.) * more than 40 boards (e.g. from Vietnam ("Pan u ao"), Niger, Ethiopia) Germany Deutsches Spiele-Archiv Barfüßerstraße 2a, 35037 Marburg/Lahn, Germany * Bao and Oware boards * modern mancala games Museum der Weltkulturen Schaumainkai 29-37, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany * rare mancala board from New Guinea (Indonesia) Schloss Weikersheim Marktplatz 11, 97990 Weikersheim, Germany * two Baroque mancala tables made by the famous Sommer family of artists in the early 18th century Netherlands 'Museum Volkenkunde Steenstraat 1, 2312 BS Leiden, Netherlands * Matoe board from eastern Sumba, Indonesia 'Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2, 1092CK Amsterdam, Netherlands * mancala exhibition in 2002 * mancala boards from Java, Ghana and Ethiopia Russia '''Gosudarstvennyj Èrmitaž (Государственный Эрмитаж) 34 Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya, St. Petersburg 190000, Russia * Bohnenspiel board from Czarina Catherine the Great Spain Museo de Burgos Calle Miranda, 13, 09002 Burgos, Spain * Andalusian Mancala board from the 10th century Switzerland Historisches Museum Bern Helvetiaplatz 5, 3005 Bern, Switzerland * weights shaped like mancala game boards for golden scales Le Musée Suisse du Jeu / Schweizerische Spielmuseum Au Château, Case postale 9, 1814 La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland * annual Awélé tournaments * small collection of mancala boards (India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Rwanda) Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève Boulevard Carl-Vogt 65, 1205 Genève, Switzerland & Chemin Calandrini 7, 1231 Conches, Switzerland * at least 11 African mancala boards (Benin, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ruanda, Tanzania) Musées Barbier-Mueller Rue Calvin 10, 1204 Genève, Switzerland * a sculptured Mancala board, which terminates in a carved human head from Liberia United Kingdom Anthropological Museum, Marischal College Marischal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen AB10 1YS, Scotland, United Kingdom * Kyngee bel board from West Africa (presented to the museum in 1820) Museum of Mankind / British Museum Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, England, United Kingdom * largest collection of mancala boards (119) * famous Ndop (wooden carving) of King Shyaam aMbul aNgoong Kuba-Bushoong Museum of the Grand Lodge of Scotland 96 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 3DH, Scotland, United Kingdom * 6 feet tall Mancala board Pitt Rivers Museum South Parks Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3PP, England, United Kingdom * a Main Chakot board from Thailand North America Barbados Barbados Museum St. Ann’s Gate, Garrison, St. Michael, Barbados BB14038, West Indies * traditional "Warri" game board on display Canada Elliot Avedon Museum & Archives of Games, University of Waterloo 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1 * at least 15 mancala boards including one unusual board from Haiti USA American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA * at least 25 mancala boards including 19 from Africa, 3 from Asia, and 3 from Surinam Brooklyn Museum 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052, USA * largely unpublished pamphlets, photo reproductions, drawings, typescripts and correspondence of Stewart Culin and his research work on mancala * a 19th century mancala game board from Sierra Leone, possibly from the Bulom people Milwaukee Public Museum 800 West Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA * several mancala boards from Africa Museum for African Art 36-01 43rd Avenue at 36th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA * Mancala exposition at the United Nations Headquarters in 2008 Penn Museum - University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA * boards from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Borneo South America Brazil Museu Afro-Brasileiro Praça Terreiro de Jesus s/n, Antiga Faculdade de Medicina, Centro Histórico, 40025-010 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil * a couple of West African Ayo boards on display References ; Voogt, A. J. de: Changing Objects: Aesthetic Qualities of Mancala Boards. In: Museum Anthropology 1996; 20 (3): 150-153. ; Voogt, A. J. de : Mancala Board Games. British Museum Press, London (UK) 1997. ;Voogt, A. J. de.: Mancala Boards (Olinda Keliya) in the National Museums of Colombo. In: Board Game Studies 2000; 3: 90-99. ; Voogt, A. J. de.: Mancala Exhibition in the Tropenmuseum (CD-ROM Publication). KIT Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (Netherlands) 2002. ; Voogt, A. J. de.: [http://130.91.80.97:591/PDFs/43-1/Mancala.pdf Mancala: Games That Count]. In: Expedition 2001; 43 (1): 38-46. ;Walker, R. A. : A Sculptured Mancala Gameboard Terminating in a Carved Human Head from Liberia in the Barbier-Mueller Museum. In: Bulletin Association des Amis du Musée Barbier-Mueller 1986; 32 : 1-6. Copyright © Ralf Gering Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license. Category: Mancala Games in Culture